How Does Golding Use Fear In Lord Of The Flies

The Congo Free State was a huge region comprising of the Democratic Republic of the Congo that was privately owned by the King of Belgium, King Leopold II. The rubber plantations down there were horrific to say the least and one description in King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild by an Englishman that was a witness to this, “...was to arrive in canoes at a village...they attacked the natives until able to seize their women… [the women] were kept as hostages until the chief of the district brought in the required number of kilograms of rubber.” (Hochschild 161). Nowadays, we are utterly shocked in disbelief that such a system could arise but the emotion of fear can explain this. William Golding in his Lord of the Flies shows how a utopian

He also has natural leadership and this combined with fear produces a deadly result. In the beginning of the book, he is shown to be the leader of the choir boys and will not let them do anything that he doesn’t will. Jack wants to be leader so bad but the boys outvoted him in favor of fair-minded Ralph. Thusly, a rivalry of hatred was formed. Jack was unable though to stay moral; he more or less “fell to the dark side”. The first step into darkness begins when he painted a mask on his face. Jack paints his face so he is disguised from piggies. The mask though serves as another tool: to hide any shame and to impose his will on others, “... the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” (Golding 52). The mask also represents Jack’s style of ruling through fear rather than democratically. What really turns Jack into a fear-ruling tyrant is pig-hunting. Although he just wanted meat at first (he does want meat later too), it turned into an obsession of killing life. The thrill of killing pigs is irresistible to Jack, and he starts not to care about rescue any longer. Jack’s thrill of killing was no longer enough though; he has to make his prey suffer. The obsession of torture is best illustrated during the killing of the sow. He and his hunters brutally kill a pregnant pig. After killing this innocent creature, Jack decapitates the

The Lord of the Flies is a pig’s head on a stick. Although the Lord of the Flies is a physical thing, it is a powerful symbol about fear. Since Simon is epileptic and dehydrated, he hallucinates in front of the Lord of the Flies. In his hallucination, the Lord of the Flies tells Simon his plans, “”--Or else,” “we shall do you? See?” (Golding 128). Although the Lord of the Flies isn’t real, this foreshadows Jack’s reign of terror and how Simon will be murdered. The Lord of the Flies itself is a terrifying image to behold; a skull that emanates fear. Also, the Lord of the Flies explains that man has a natural capacity for cruelty when he is scared of the unknown. After Simon’s visit, it degrades, symbolizing the degradation of society. When Ralph finds it, it scares the hell out of him, and he smashes it to pieces (could be seen as foreshadowing that the society will soon collapse) The book is named after this character and since this character is based on fear, a conclusion can be made that the theme is going to be about